Randomblame
Well-Known Member
With IR its the same like with green. It's simply not needed!
IR is almost pure radiated heat and it does nothing else as to increase temps, leaf surface temps "and" stretch. Only because HPS has a huge amount of IR(~800-850nm) it means not its needed.
Yes, plants also use heat energy but the light itselfs has already enough stored energy. Light is energy and matter in the same time.
Remember, as soon as light hits a surface its get reflected but a huge part is also converted into heat (according to the color of the surface). IR does nothing else as to add more heat radiation to the spectrum.
We have switched to LED to reduce this wasted energy.
Imagine the following..
With HPS you need 25°C/50% RH to get an optimal leaf surface temperature. With LED you need 30°C/60% RH to get the same LST because there is no IR inside the LED spectrum. This means you need less power for active cooling, exaust fan and dehumidifier to keep your ambient in a good range.
When you add IR to an LED spectrum you would see the same effect as with HPS. LST is increased therefor you need to keep the temps down and you need probably more dehumidification to avoid bud rot and a bigger exaust fan for more gas exchange inside the tent.
It could maybe be used to heat up the tent a little faster and then switch it off. It takes an hour or so until the temps have stabilized. But I don't think it makes a measurable difference in yield to no IR.
An optimal growlight IMO would have 2 white spectrums, tunable from at least 5000-3000°k, an additional blue channel with 430 and 485nm to fill the up the missing blue wavelengths and a 2nd channel with red and deep-red to boost photosyntesis. It also need a separated far-red channel to add far-red over the day(emerson effect) and to use it for EoD treatments(night mode switch). And last but not least UVA and UVB depending on crop! Many plants have trichomes and profit from UV. Think on essential oils and plants like peppermint, basil and other herbs of medical use.
Each channel dimmable, even UV, and at best with a built in controller with spectrometer & display to have better control over the spectrum settings and to save the settings for later use. This way you can create different presets for different plants and plant stages. So in the end you could change the spectrum with just one click..
Beautiful new world..
IR is almost pure radiated heat and it does nothing else as to increase temps, leaf surface temps "and" stretch. Only because HPS has a huge amount of IR(~800-850nm) it means not its needed.
Yes, plants also use heat energy but the light itselfs has already enough stored energy. Light is energy and matter in the same time.
Remember, as soon as light hits a surface its get reflected but a huge part is also converted into heat (according to the color of the surface). IR does nothing else as to add more heat radiation to the spectrum.
We have switched to LED to reduce this wasted energy.
Imagine the following..
With HPS you need 25°C/50% RH to get an optimal leaf surface temperature. With LED you need 30°C/60% RH to get the same LST because there is no IR inside the LED spectrum. This means you need less power for active cooling, exaust fan and dehumidifier to keep your ambient in a good range.
When you add IR to an LED spectrum you would see the same effect as with HPS. LST is increased therefor you need to keep the temps down and you need probably more dehumidification to avoid bud rot and a bigger exaust fan for more gas exchange inside the tent.
It could maybe be used to heat up the tent a little faster and then switch it off. It takes an hour or so until the temps have stabilized. But I don't think it makes a measurable difference in yield to no IR.
An optimal growlight IMO would have 2 white spectrums, tunable from at least 5000-3000°k, an additional blue channel with 430 and 485nm to fill the up the missing blue wavelengths and a 2nd channel with red and deep-red to boost photosyntesis. It also need a separated far-red channel to add far-red over the day(emerson effect) and to use it for EoD treatments(night mode switch). And last but not least UVA and UVB depending on crop! Many plants have trichomes and profit from UV. Think on essential oils and plants like peppermint, basil and other herbs of medical use.
Each channel dimmable, even UV, and at best with a built in controller with spectrometer & display to have better control over the spectrum settings and to save the settings for later use. This way you can create different presets for different plants and plant stages. So in the end you could change the spectrum with just one click..
Beautiful new world..
